Shutdown was led by extremists

Friday

Oct 18, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Clive McFarlane, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The insanity of tea party extremists was captured in many ways these past three weeks, including the following manifestations.

•A guy standing in front of the White House waving in one hand the Confederate flag, which Washington Post writer Jonathan Capehart noted is "a symbol of Southern resistance and white supremacy," and in his other hand a Marine flag, which symbolizes the nation's triumph over the Confederacy.

•John Boehner, the speaker of the House, accusing President Barack Obama of leading from behind, while he, Boehner, stood aside and allowed a crazy faction of his party to shut the government down and to almost run it into default.

•Tea party Republicans who pushed for the shutdown said they were doing it to save the American economy, but as the president noted Thursday, nothing has undermined the economy over the last few years like the manufactured crises that the Republicans have created.

Indeed, while knowing full well the futility of their actions, Republicans, professed champions of fiscal responsibility and debt reduction, charged forward on a kamikaze mission that sucked $24 billion dollars out of the economy, unnecessarily inflicting pain and suffering on millions of Americans.

According to a Peter G. Peterson Foundation report and as reported by The New York Times, the persistent recklessness of Republicans in driving the country to the brink of default "increased certain corporate borrowing costs by 0.38 percentage points; lowered economic growth over that period by 0.3 percent a year, costing at least $150 billion in lost output; and left this year's unemployment rate higher by 0.6 percentage points. That translates to 900,000 jobs lost."

•Republicans mounted their kamikaze attack on the country despite the slow but steady growth of its economy over the past four years and despite data showing that mandatory sequestration cuts, along with other cuts in government spending, have led to the deficit, as a percentage of the country's GPA, being cut in half since the president took office in 2009.

"At a moment when our economic recovery demands more jobs, more momentum, we got yet another self-inflicted crisis that sets our economy back, and for what … there was no economic rationale for all of this," the president said.

•Boehner's apologists in the House suggested that the speaker allowed the extremists to inflict all this damage on the country in order to teach them they were acting irresponsible. But as Sen. Elizabeth Warren surmised in an email, it was a $24 billion lesson that flew over the heads of the extremists, leaving her to wonder, "How many children could have been back in Head Start classes? How many seniors could have had a hot lunch through Meals on Wheels? How many scientists could have gotten their research funded? How many bridges could have been repaired and trains upgraded?"

•Despite the out-of-touch and suicidal nature of the tea party extremists, a stunning number of their more moderate colleagues are still being led by them. Of the 235 Republicans in the House, 144 voted against the deal that opened the government and raised the debt ceiling, preventing the cataclysmic consequences of a default.

"The House of Representatives has taken a bold stance listening to the American people," Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas, a tea party darling and instigator, said of their failed quixotic quest.

What American people is he talking about — people like the guy who held the Confederate flag in front of the White House?